Remove bleach from your cleaning routine for good.
Ever used bleach in your home? You probably have! The scent of bleach is incredibly nostalgic as a lot of us grew up with it. Bleach is always associated with cleanliness, as it is said to bring your home to an elevated level of cleanliness. However, there are downsides to using it at home. Not only for your interiors but your health as well.
There are several reasons why you should remove bleach from your cleaning routine, especially if you have kids or the elderly around. If you’re staying in an older house, all the more reason to avoid bleach as it could get into all sorts of nooks and crannies and deteriorate your home’s appliances or furniture.
Here are 4 of the top reasons why you should remove bleach from your cleaning routine:
Good health
Bleach is filled with an array of harmful chemicals that are both toxic and injurious to those around. Bleach is put in the same category as gasoline in terms of health deterioration. That’s a tall order. Chemicals released by bleach have been linked to cancer, especially when they come in contact with your skin. Furthermore, the immediate effects of it on your skin could be a burning sensation as it is very corrosive. If you do work with bleach, make sure to wear protective gear and gloves.
It’s not effective for mold
Despite popular notions, bleach is truly not effective for mold. In case you’ve come across any form of mold in your kitchen or bathroom, the myth is that bleach and water will do the trick and take care of it. This is far from the truth. Chlorine bleach doesn’t remove or kill mold, and it isn’t even meant to do this.
The only thing bleach does is remove the mold’s color, giving off an illusion of cleanliness. In fact, the mold still remains and can cause an array of further allergy-related health problems which lead to irreparable harm in the long run. A good alternative? Mixing borax and water to remove mold and prevent it from growing in the first place.
Bad for your appliances
Regular bleach found in hardware stores leads to your appliances rusting quicker than ever. Bleach has an active ingredient known as sodium hypochlorite, and this might help with stain removal in the short term, but over time, it oxidizes and causes rust.
This not only gives your home an older look but also renders some of your appliances completely useless. Replacing them is surely not how you want to spend your money in the long run. The last thing you want is for the very thing you used to clean your appliances to spoil them.
Quicker expiry
People say that bleach doesn’t have an expiry date, and while this is technically true, it does lose its power and intensity after 90 days. After a whole year, it becomes completely ineffective. You’d have to replace your it every 90 days, and this is costly. Not to mention how much you would be damaging the environment in the process with the excessive wastage of bleach and bottles.
What can you use instead of bleach?
There are several green and more natural options that you can use instead of bleach. With these homemade remedies, you can keep your house clean and also avoid nasty chemicals from permeating your surroundings. Keep your furniture clean, appliances intact, and environment green with these few simple tips:
Borax
Borax might be widely used for laundry, but it’s a secret cleaning weapon. Powdered bleach or other types of ammonia-filled cleaning powders are generally used instead of bleach to clean toilets or get rid of mold, but borax is a wonderful substitute. It gets mold in hard-to-access areas and is also non-reactive.
The chemicals aren’t even close to as harmful as bleach and can be easily merged with other liquids to make effective mixtures. A handy tip is mixing it with warm water along with a touch of dish soap to craft a homemade bathroom scrub.
Lemon Juice
Another handy ingredient that you can find right on your shelf or make from scratch, lemon juice is a great substitute for bleach. All you have to do to make this is to slice a big lemon and rub it over a cutting board for complete cleanliness. You can also grind the other half of the lemon into your trash bags to ensure that they smell nice throughout and don’t rust quickly.
Lemon can also help other types of metal furniture from rusting quickly. This keeps everything around your home fresh and clean without too much effort or spending a bomb.
Vinegar
Vinegar’s been used since time immemorial for numerous cleaning applications, on any form of walls, mirrors, windows, or surfaces. All you need to do is spritz some vinegar on the surface, let it sit for a couple of minutes, and then wipe it clean with a cloth. In fact, vinegar and baking soda go as far as to help remove clogs from showers and sinks.
White vinegar when distilled is also a useful mild disinfectant. Mix it together with dish soap and water, and put it inside a spray bottle. Spray this onto a surface with tougher stains, and after a while, wipe it clean. The results are instant and magical.
Did this convince you to remove bleach from your cleaning routine?
As mentioned, bleach is extremely hazardous to your health and also for your appliances and furniture. It releases toxic fumes that cause overall deterioration and aren’t even sustainable for the long term. With a short shelf life, you would need to keep replacing the product, and this will rack up your bills while also being harmful to the environment. There are several greener alternatives such as Borax, Lemon Juice, and Vinegar, which work just as well as bleach while exuding far less impact on your health and surroundings. Always remember that there are better options and follow Octopus for more home related advice!
